A conventional stable isotope mass spectrometer is available to provide δ¹³C measurements. These δ¹³C measurements will be provided for all samples except some sediments, and this information is used to correct the ¹⁴ C ages to δ¹³C of -25‰, as by convention, before reporting them.

    For samples younger than a few thousand years, the ¹⁴C/¹³C ratio is measured with a standard deviation of about 0.5%. This precision yield an uncertainty in the radiocarbon age of approximately ±40 years. Published tree-ring calibration curves are used to determine calendar ages. The uncertainty in the calendar age is generally larger than the uncertainty in the radiocarbon age, and depends on the location of the calculated age in the calibration curve.

    For samples with ages greater than about 9000 years, only radiocarbon ages are quoted. For special cases, better precision can be achieved by analyzing several targets made from the same material. This improves the standard deviation of the averaged result by a factor of √n , where n is the number of independent analyses. The maximum radiocarbon age which can be measured at the facility is about 48,000 B.P.